In a supermarket type of retail sales establishment the volume of business is frequently such that it is desirable for a checkout clerk to devote all of his or her attention to checking the articles purchased by the customers while another person devotes his or her attention to bagging the articles purchased by customers. At other times, because of a reduced volume of business, it is desirable that a checkout clerk should bag the articles purchased by customers, as well as checking the articles.
In the past, a checkout stand has not been readily adaptable for bagging by either or both the checkout clerk and/or a bagging person other than a checkout clerk. Most known supermarket checkout assemblies have been designed so that bagging can be best performed by a person other than a checkout clerk. Some checkout assemblies have been designed so that bagging may also be performed by the checkout clerk, but much less efficiently or effectively.
It is an object of this invention to provide a checkout assembly which serves equally well as a unit for bagging by a checkout clerk or for bagging by a person other than the checkout clerk and which may serve simultaneously as a unit for bagging by both the checkout clerk and a person other than the checkout clerk.
Another object of this invention is to provide conveyor belt apparatus which has a portion which is readily movable between an extended position and a collapsed position.
Other objects and advantages of this invention reside in the construction of the parts thereof, the combination thereof, the method of manufacture, and the mode of operation, as will become more apparent from the following description.